A Downey student got cancer. His school’s ‘prayer force’ helped conquer it
Miracles are nice but, truth be told, all Atticus Maldonado really wanted for Christmas was to be just another kid.
Though it’s wonderful to know he’s been on so many people’s minds — and in their prayers — now all he wants is to blend back into the St. Pius X-St. Matthias Academy (PMA) community that helped to sustain him and his family for more than a year.
“I’m good with not being in the spotlight,” he said. “I’d like to be just a regular student again.”
In December 2022, Maldonado was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare and unusually aggressive form of cancer of the soft tissue. What was more, and worse, doctors told him that he was at stage 4 of the disease, a stage with about a 20% rate of survival.